Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC - formerly IPCC)
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IPCC to investigate after a ‘near miss’ in custody in Greater Manchester

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is to investigate the treatment of a man in custody by Greater Manchester Police after he was subsequently admitted to hospital in a life-threatening condition.

On 4 March 2014 Greater Manchester Police (GMP) arrested a man in the Oldham area. He was taken by police van to Ashton-under-Lyne Police Station at around 1 pm where he was placed in a cell.

According to police information, the man, aged 48, was placed under regular observation due to being suspected of being intoxicated. Later in the afternoon the man was found to be unconscious and an ambulance was called which took him to Tameside General Hospital at around 6 pm.  He was later moved to Fairfield Hospital Intensive Care Unit. The man has subsequently returned home.

The investigation will consider whether GMP applied an appropriate duty of care during the man’s detention and will focus on visits and observations by officers and custody staff, and whether adequate searches were conducted on the man’s arrival in custody.

The IPCC will also investigate whether the timeliness of GMP’s telephone referral to the IPCC complies with the rules on how the police service handle complaints.

IPCC Commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said: “Our investigation is in its early stages and we have visited the man concerned to explain our involvement.

“We will be investigating whether officers and staff applied the appropriate duty of care to this individual and checking whether any searches of the man’s person on his arrival were carried out satisfactorily. The outcome of this incident could have been even more serious and we need to look at whether safe custody procedures were followed.”

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